AI-assisted research summary: Automatic recounts are required when election margins fall below specified thresholds, and the secretary of state and state canvassing board must start the recount process.
1-14-24. Automatic recounts; procedures. A. An automatic recount of the vote is required when the canvass of returns indicates that the margin between the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes for an office, the margin between those supporting and those opposing a ballot question or the margin affecting the outcome of a nonpartisan judicial retention election is less than: (1) one-fourth percent of the total votes cast in that election: (a) for that office in the case of a federal or statewide office; (b) on a ballot question in the case of a state ballot question; or (c) on a nonpartisan judicial retention election in the case of the supreme court or the court of appeals; (2) one-half percent of the total votes cast in that election: (a) for that office in the case of a public education commissioner, district attorney or any office elected countywide in a county with more than one hundred fifty thousand registered voters; (b) on a ballot question in the case of a local ballot question; or (c) on a nonpartisan judicial retention election in the case of a district court or the metropolitan court; or (3) one percent of the total votes cast in that election or five or fewer votes between the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes for that office in the case of any other office. B. For an office for which ballots were cast in more than one county, the secretary of state shall file notice with the state canvassing board upon the completion of the state canvass that an automatic recount is required, and the state canvassing board shall order a recount of the ballots for the specified office. For an office in which ballots were cast solely within one county, the secretary of state shall file notice with the state canvassing board within seven days after receiving notice from the county clerk following the completion of the county canvass that an automatic recount is required, and the state canvassing board shall order a recount of the ballots for the specified office. C. Automatic recounts shall be conducted pursuant to the recount procedures established in Sections 1-14-16 and 1-14-18 through 1-14-23 NMSA 1978. History: Laws 2008, ch. 41, § 1; 2015, ch. 145, § 78; 2019, ch. 212, § 130; 2020, ch. 9, § 9; 2023, ch. 39, § 75.